Tea at Trianon: Trianon in September

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Trianon in September

A collection of photos. Share

2 comments:

lara77 said...: Thank you for the lovely photos; great way to start the day. The chapel in the Petit Trianon is so beautiful in its simplicity. I can see Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette in that chapel while at prayer. I am sure even Their Majesties had no idea the horrors that soon would be descending on their country.; September 2, 2009 at 9:02:00 AM EDT
Aron said...: I am amazed by the photos...it is sobering to realize that she once walked those halls. It may be the ridiculous romantic in me (shh...don't tell my buddies, lol!), but one sometimes wonders if one could catch echoes of her if conditions are just right. Not a "ghost" of course...merely echoes. I once had the opportunity to see a tapestry from St. Cloud in the Beaverbrook Gallery in N.B...and to briefly touch it, to my friend's consternation. It amazed me to think that Marie may well have used said tapestry herself. So, one may imagine what it would be like to be at Trianon. It's also amazing to realize that that place survive the fury of the revolution. Apologies for babbling...Surely Louis and Marie Antoinette are in the Presence of the Lord now.; September 2, 2009 at 11:46:00 PM EDT